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A friend tried the following tek. Washed, rinsed and steeped finch seed. Added raw sunflower seeds and flaw flax seed then loaded eight quart jars, each with a single micron filter and band, no lid, then tightly covered with aluminum and pressured cooked as usual. Inoculated jars using the oven method and placed in aquarium heater-controlled incubation chamber with some perlite in a small tray. Three days later mycelium appeared on top as expected. Shook jars and returned them to the chamber. Since then no more growth has occurred. No contamination and sadly no evidence of further colonization. If you can&#8217;t tell from the pictures the jar content is more wet than dry. What is my friend doing wrong? The incubation chamber did produce a great deal of moisture. Should he have used the inverted jar lids in addition to the filters? He&#8217;s read in some teks where they instruct you to remove the jars immediately from the pc, shake jars and return to the pc to cool. Was leaving the jars in the pc overnight to cool as he did a mistake or should he have included the previously mentioned pc step? Additionally, the jars content breaks apart easily but the core of it appears to have shrunk, darkened and solidified. There is no unusual odor. Any suggestions? Bluhoney, I would appreciate your imput?

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--------------------Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. --Baruch Spinoza

Looks like wetspot (bacillus) to me. Why did you add raw sunflower seeds? They are 50% fat, that is bad.You need a lid with a small hole in it on top of the filter, ie. 3/8", the whole top of the jar is too much area.I have never used birdseed, but when I use rye I simmer it, rinse it thoroughly, let it drain for half an hour, then PC it and the water content comes out fine. Maybe you just left it too wet.

I found the recipe at the end of a long thread. The explanation for the ingredients were based on a nutritional breakdown of those ingredients including the raw sunflower seeds. Their theory seemed sound. I could try and find it if you'd like. It was a great read.

So the content of the quart jars was to wet? How do I reduce that? If the lids are used is there a need for the incubation chamber. Does the little hole allow enough gas exchnage?

--------------------Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. --Baruch Spinoza

Now that I think about it, my friend didn't drain the finch seed for a half hour. He just rinsed it through a strainer, shook the excessive water off and added the other ingredients. Maybe the half hour draining makes a difference?

--------------------Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. --Baruch Spinoza

that stuff is bacillis subtilis, aka wet spot bacteria. wet spot occurs when the grain jars are not sterilized long enough in the pc, can also be airborne & enter jars during innoculation. the endospores naturally occur on most grains & are somewhat heat resistant, hence the importance of proper sterilaztion of grain jars. I suspect your probem is not so much your recipe as your sterilization tek.

I used to have exactly the same problem as you. No matter what I tried, my jars kept getting a wet bacterial contamination...sometimes even when the jars where almost 90% colonised, but mostly earlier. My jars looked exactly like the picture of your jars.

I tried lots of things - thoroughly washing and rinsing the grain, preboiling the grain, trying grain from a different supplier, Pressure cooking at a higher temp, pressure cooking longer. I even tried combinations of these. None of these things worked. I'm not saying they won't work for you. All I'm saying is that they didn't work me.

The only way I could control contamination was by pressure cooking twice. I would pressure pressure cook the grain once, then take the jars out of the PC, shake them, and leave alone for 24hours. I would then pressure cook them again.

Problem fixed. I've PC over 100 jars using this method, with zero contamination.

I know pressure cooking twice is annoying, and very time consuming, but it certainly worked for me. I'm not sure why pressure cooking twice (with a 24 hour wait in between) works, all I know is that it does work.

--------------------"I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW!" - Queen

Very interesting. Were you using finch seed? I'm willing to try the double pc treatment. I do have some questions. You wrote, "I would pressure pressure cook the grain once, then take the jars out of the PC, shake them, and leave alone for 24hours. I would then pressure cook them again."

Are you taking the jars out while they are hot? If so I assume you first remove the pressure controller and let all the steam escape before opening the pc and shaking the jars? Do you return the jars to the pc for the 24 hour period or can I place them on a shelf and continue to sterilize other jars? I've read a similar step in a quart jar tek but chose to let mine sit undisturbed in the pc until they cooled naturally.

I appreciate you sharing your experience with this particular problem. Your results make me hopeful again.

What type of lid treatment did you employ?

Peace

--------------------Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. --Baruch Spinoza

Then, using a clean cloth so you don't burn your hands, grab the jar, shake it, then put it somewhere clean. I put them in a closed cardboard box that i've sprayed lighly with 10% bleach solution. Anywhere clean is ok. An open shelf might be a litle dusty, but a glass covered shelf would be better. Just try to keep them as clean as you can.

You can steralize other jars while the first lot are waiting.

I buy finch seed from the local pet shop, which is mostly millet. The store owner

For the lid, I've drilled 2 small holes, and I've plugged them polyester polyfill. I then cover the top 1/3 of the jar once with aluminium foil. I cover it with a 2nd layer of aluminium foil that cover the top 1/2 of the jars. There might be other ways of doing it, but thats how I do it and it works well.

--------------------"I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it NOW!" - Queen

Clarify some finer points for me. After you pc your jars the first time do you leave both layers of foil on while waiting for the second round? I'm assuming so.

After the second round when you move the jars to an incubation chamber do you leave the foil on or remove it? If left on, do you loosen it at all? What about the polyfill at this stage while in the chamber. Remove it or leave in place?

I'm using plastic lids and plan on trying the polyfill technique. What do you think of using micron filters in conjunction with the polyfill lids/foil?

--------------------Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand. --Baruch Spinoza

After you have finished PCing them and there is no pressure in the PC, open it up. Grap a towel to take them out. Tighten the lids. Shake really well. Take off tin foil. Leave polyfill on lid. After they have cooled 100% (atleast 12 hours), innoculate with syringe through the polyfill as close to the edge of polyfill filter and the opening you made in the jar lid. Do not innoculate through the center of the polyfill filter as this will push the whole filter into the jar. Shake jars again and place in incubator.

I am no pro ......... but I bet you will continue to have troubles as long as you keep using sunflower seeds . Sun flower seeds do not hold up well in high moisture environments , they like to soak up lots of water then rupture when heated .This is just my hunch !Good Luck .And yes work on that sterilization process .

--------------------Any information I give is not intended to aide you in the production of potentialy illegal substances !None of my exp comes from growing illegal varities , so take it as you will .
So with that said here is our mission statement .

Then the priest fell into a trance or swoon,& said unto the Queen of heaven ; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law !